This Editorial appears in the June 13 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today. Now that the comment period on the latest twist in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s long, drawn-out trek to a permanent hours-of-service rule has expired, it’s time for the agency to reaffirm its support for the very successful regulation that already exists.
The four studies that FMCSA inserted into the record a month ago added very little important information to the debate over hours-of-service, especially as it relates to commercial truck drivers. In fact, the studies were flawed and would all require additional research if the agency intends to rely on any of their findings.
Rather than waste more time, FMCSA needs to stand up for the very rule that it created and put into effect in 2004.
That rule has led to the safest period in modern history, as detailed by the federal government’s own records and surveys.
As we reported earlier this year, the most current data shows that the truck-involved fatality rate is the lowest it’s been since the government began tracking the statistics in 1975. And the total number of fatalities in those accidents also declined to a record low.
While the trucking industry was concerned that the rule would slow operations when it went into effect, fleets have learned to adapt to the changes contained in it and have managed to continue to deliver the nation’s freight efficiently and to improve safety.
Nearly all of the pressure on the government to change the rule is coming from advocacy groups that claim to seek safer highways, but ignore the tremendous improvement that the HOS rule has fostered.
Since the rule was adopted, the truck-involved fatality rate has declined 36%, nearly twice as big a drop as the decline in the overall highway fatality rate. This should make it clear to federal safety officials that the HOS rule is working.
We understand that the Department of Transportation felt it had to reopen the HOS debate to deal with a federal appeals court challenge. And while the uncertainty that move created was harmful to trucking, the industry has continued to operate under the existing rule.
It’s now time for FMCSA to show some courage and stand up for its own rule. The current HOS rule works, and we all need it to be retained.
